Sunday, December 7, 2008

Do you like old Christmas pictures? I know I do. I found a website that sells copies of Harper's Weekly and other old newspapers, which is where I found this lovely vintage picture. I put a link here to the website so you can get some of these pictures and maybe buy some of the antique publications.

Wow, Christmas is getting closer and I have done only a little of my Christmas shopping. Running out of ideas is my main problem. So I have a great idea to share with my blogger friends. Have you ever heard of Springle cookies? I hadn't until I met Ken Hamilton, who is a professional baker and makes these little pieces of edible art. They are beautiful! And they taste great! Check out the link on this page for ordering and other information.

Now on to music. This week I have a combination of songs I have gotten from my 78 rpm record collection and songs from cylinders that I have downloaded and then cleaned up some.

Frank Gallagher was very into polkas, so when he wanted to record a Christmas song, guess what kind of song it was? Right - a polka. "Merry Christmas (Polka)" is a lively song that you will enjoy.

Are you old enough to remember Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on the Saturday morning cowboy shows? If so, you will remember that they sang "Happy Trails to You" as their theme song. Included this week is from my record collection of Roy Rogers singing "Gabby the Gobbler". It is kinda corny, but bet you will like it anyway.

From The Blue Barron & His Orchestra I have "Christmastime". From Joni James, you can hear "Christmas and You" and "Nina Non". I have been singing "Nina Non" ever since I made this copy. It is really lovely and nostalgic - makes you remember the love you felt as a child at Christmas. Get this one even if you don't want the others.

Tony Martin's "Christmas Candle" and "Nazareth" are very pretty. Then we have Tom Glazer with "Little Bitty Baby". I remember this one from the past. It is one of those that add a new object to the list for every verse, then you have to go backwards through them all before the next verse. It is one that the kids will love to sing.

Not really novel but still lots of fun are Sid Peltyn & His Orchestra with "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and also Vaughn Monroe with "Marshmallow World".

Two of my favorites are Vera Lynn with the Robert Farnon Orchestra in "Christmas Time" and Vaughn Monroe & Moon Maidens with " The Jolly Old Man in the Bright Red Suit". By the way, Vera Lynn's "Christmas Time" is not the same song as done by Blue Barron, mentioned above, even though the title is almost the same.

I found a very interesting Christmas song on the Library of Congress archives. This was recorded in 1939 as part of a program that was designed to make recordings from various localities in the United States of folk songs and other things in an effort to keep them from disappearing. The gentleman on the beginning of the recording is Leon Ponce, and it is obvious that he is an older gentleman. He is singing a cute song from his past. I found the same song, recorded many years later by a group named The Revelers. I don't know if they learned the song from the Library of Congress archive or by other means. Anyway, I put the two versions together into one song. Hope you enjoy it.

The cylinder songs included come from various sites, with a few from the London Phonograph and Gramophone Society. As before, I have removed much of the noise and pops that come from these old cylinders. But still they have quite a bit of noise that cannot be removed (at least by me) without losing too much of the original. I think you can enjoy them, as I do, for their historical value.

You will find several Winter songs in the download list, just because they were on cylinder and of course, winter in the northern hemisphere starts at approximately the same time as Christmas. So even though not strictly Christmas music, it seemed appropriate to put them in here.

About Me

At age 50, I decided to change my career field. So I went to school and then was fortunate enough to get a really interesting job in IT support in South Carolina. I have 2 grown "boys", David and Christopher. My husband, Buddy, is an artist at heart and is employed with a machine and tool company. I also have 3 fantastic granddaughters, Abby, Katelyn and Audrey, one energetic grandson Dominic, and 2 "loverly" daughters-in-law - Gina and Amy. Feel free to be jealous of me.